Many types of industries utilize image editing and processing applications, such as for illustrations, graphic design, video editing, animation, and 3D modeling. Computing devices, such as desktop computers and any type of mobile devices, can display user interfaces of the image editing applications through which a user may create, view, and edit the many different types of images, videos, and graphics. Often, digital images for graphics and illustration applications are created as a compilation of image segments and/or objects on multiple, different layers of an image, and the layers are presented together to display the overall image. However, conventional image editing applications have poor visual reference mechanisms to select and interact with the individual or selected groups of layers of an image. Generally, the layer representations for an image are disconnected from the image, and are typically organized based on a numerical z-order layering of the image layers, rather than how the image segments or objects of the layers appear in the displayed image. Additionally, the more layers used to create an image, the more difficult it is for a user to determine and select individual or groups of the layers for viewing and editing.